Diuretic
Permanently confused
American car makers won't be able to compete until we have a single payer healthcare system.
IS GENERAL MOTORS an automobile manufacturer that provides healthcare benefits for its workers? Or is it a health insurance provider that also happens to make cars?
The question is facetious, but there's nothing funny about GM's predicament. At the company's annual meeting in Detroit last week, CEO Rick Wagoner told shareholders that health benefits add a staggering $1,500 to the price of every vehicle GM makes. GM will spend more than $5.6 billion this year on health coverage for 1.1 million people -- a population greater than Rhode Island's. Yet of that number, only 160,000 or so are current employees: The majority are retirees and their families. And with GM planning to shed 25,000 jobs through attrition over the next three years, its already lopsided ratio of 2.6 retirees per active employee is only going to get worse.
GM's healthcare dilemma - The Boston Globe